I’m sure we can all agree that providing a decent education to children is a worthy and laudable aim.

In the UK, because the vast majority of education provision is (sadly) controlled by the State, it therefore falls to the State – and therefore the Government of the day, to ensure that our kids are given this advantage. However, some of us have been arguing for many years now that Government CANNOT be trusted to properly manage Education provision, since it will naturally want to pretend that it all progress is thanks to it, and it alone, thus Grades HAVE to improve. Government consistently DENIES  that there has been any grade inflation and that improved annual academic results are attributed to great teaching and smarter kids. Praise be to Government.

However the staggering scale of "grade inflation" in schools and universities since Labour came to power is laid bare in official figures today.

The number of A grades at A-level and top honours degrees has soared more than 50% since 1997.

The trend at GCSE is almost as marked, with pupils now passing 36 per cent of exams at the top two grades of A and A*.

And figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency have shown how first-class honours degrees have rocketed 55%. More than one in ten undergraduates now achieve the highest university accolade while more than 50% achieve the top two grades – either a first or upper second. Out of 289,200 undergraduates awarded degrees last year, 172,000 were awarded one of these degrees. Most of the rest gained lower seconds, while 26,800 failed their degrees completely, gaining no classification at all. Firsts alone have gone up from seven per cent in 1997 to more than 11 per cent.

DUMBED DOWN AND SOLD OUT – Government betrays our children.

You don’t need a brace of worthless "A" Levels or a Degree in Sports Studies to work that one out. Government needs to be removed from Education – it corrupts all it touches.

The Cameronifcation of the Conservative Party continues to mutate this once-proud Party into something that is NOW EVEN further to the Left than Labour. Senior Conservative Tim Yeo who chairs the influential House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, said he wanted to see ‘ virtually no’ internal flights within a decade because of "the greenhouse gas emissions" they produce. Environmental campaigner and Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith, who is heading a group developing green policy for David Cameron, has also confirmed that a major tax hike on domestic flights was being considered.

Just think, "virtually no internal UK Flights" – tough news for those of us who live in Northern Ireland and who need to travel to other parts of the UK for business and personal reasons. Tough for those who want to travel wherever they want, when they want. The modern Conservative Party is emerging as a major threat to our liberty, and its embrace of the toxic Green agenda is choking the essence of Conservatism to death.

It’s not often I talk about my work or the stories relayed to my by others in my profession.  However, so fascinated and appalled was I by what I heard yesterday that I feel ATW readers should be aware of the oppressive and despicable nature of proselytising Islam.  Lefties see the creed as a doctrine of peace; others see my deep-seated dislike of that religion and a great many of its obsessive adherents as the rantings of a bigot.  OK, I’ll admit it – I am bigoted when it comes to Islam!  Not through what I read in newspapers about atrocities committed in its name far away, but from my own experience of living for many years in close proximity to a highly Islamised city, what I see with my own eyes, and the stories I hear from the many peripatetic workers I meet in this profession.

Last afternoon I completed a shift with a young man called John.  He was telling me about a girl of twenty-something he had supported only last week.  She was a girl of Muslim descent who had family in Leeds, though obviously British by birth and had a great love of this country.  Below is roughly the conversation that took place (my works are in bold type).

‘We talked for hours’ said John.  ‘She certainly was not like the usual clients I look after as they have learning difficulties  She was well-read, articulate and very interesting to talk to.’

‘So what was wrong with her?’

‘She was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 20 following a massive nervous breakdown whilst studying at university in London.’

‘That’s a bloody shame.  Just think what she could have achieved if fate had taken a different course.  Was it university life?’

‘Huh, it was a lack of university life, more like!’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well her father didn’t particularly like the fact that she had chosen a university so far away.  He wanted to keep a close eye on her.  He was always on the phone to her – or making frequent visits to her campus – telling her to put her studies and her ‘Islamic’ faith first.  He forbade her from having any social life with other students, or participating in the life of the university.  He even took her, against her wishes, to a local Islamic community centre and told the participants to ensure she made frequent visits there.’

‘You’re joking!!?’

‘I bloody wish.  She told me she never once went to a pub, or a nightclub, or went shopping, or visited her fellow students at their digs for two-and-a-half years.  All she had, thanks to her father, was study, prayer, study, prayer…..in virtual isolation.  In the end she simply couldn’t cope with the pressure and broke down spectacularly.  She hates her father even coming to see her.  Thankfully, he doesn’t seem too fussed about coming over.’

You see, ladies and gentlemen, the followers of Islam don’t just kill in the actual sense of ending mortal life.  They kill the very souls of those – especially women - who, whilst born into their oppressive grip, have the bravery and courage to seek a lifestyle and culture enjoyed by the rest of us.  There will be thousands of cases like this across the UK alone.  Whatever you may decide to label these people, they are certainly ‘not messengers of peace.’

Did you see that an English school has ordered a devout Catholic schoolgirl to remove her cross necklace because it posed a health and safety risk? Teachers demanded Samantha Devine remove her chain and tiny crucifix despite allowing Muslim and Sikh pupils to wear symbols of their religion. Her family have vowed to fight the decision "all the way" claiming it discriminates against Christians.

These enforcers of corrupt political correctness see outward and visible expresions of Christianity as a key target that must be attacked. They will swoon at the prospect of banning a schoolgirl from wearing a tiny cross, but then luxuriate at their liberal tolerance towards the ROP and other minority faiths. Whoever banned this girl from wearing a cross should be sacked. On the spot. We need to fight back against the thought-police that patrol our Public Institutions and this can only happen if we go on the offensive. All Christian families whose kids attend the school concerned should picket the school and call for the sacking of the person who authorised this attack on a symbol of our faith. British tolerance is being mistaken for British indifference by the moonbat left – it’s time we stood up to them.

That pretentious mouthpiece of the political left “The Independent” rounds on Tony Blair for him daring to suggest that the media might be fanning the flames of opposition to the war on militant Islam.

Blair says..

“They (UK population) will be constantly bombarded by the propaganda of the enemy, often quite sympathetically treated by their own media, to the effect that it’s really all ‘our’, that is the West’s fault. That, in turn, impacts on the feelings of our armed forces. They want public opinion not just behind them but behind their mission.”

He also warned that the terrorists had learnt how to use the media to undermine public opinion.

Now then, I am a relentless critic of Blair on many fronts, but NOT on this. He is ABSOLUTELY right in what he is saying. The MSM is a willing propaganda tool for the Jihadists. The anti-US hatred that pervades the MSM, combined with its innate liberal institutionalised self-loathing of our values, has made it central to the ambitions of militant Islam. The fact is that the Indie is outraged because Blair accurately points out its complicity in aiding Jihad, and in undermining our military. Well said, Prime Minister.

Sorry there was no Friday Night Jukebox but I had  bad weather related connectivity issues and had to wait until today – Saturday!

So, let’s get the year off to a rocking start with a grrreat performance by the excellent St Louis born Ellen Foley, covering the Jagger/Richards classic rocker … "Stupid Girl"

It’s not the world’s greatest video, but her VOICE is brilliant and the band sounds hot. Ellen gained fame as the female vocal on "Paradise by the Dashboard" – the Meatloaf hit from the late ’70′s. She recorded an album produced by Ian Hunter/Mick Ronson called "Night Out" which is a treasured part of my LP collection! She also recorded some material written by Clash rocker Mick Jones.  Give it a whirl…

C’mon, let’s be honest about it. The current threat to the survival of the United Kingdom which apparently so concerns dour Gordon Brown – our Prime Minister-in-waiting – is a direct consequence of the policies of the Labour Government to which Brown has been so central a figure.

It’s all very well to make wild claims about being a champion of the Union, as Brown feigns in the "Daily Cameron" this morning, but the reality is starkly different. The Devolution policies of NuLabour have caused a fissure, possibly even a chasm, to open up between Scotland and the rest of the Kingdom. This may, or may not, lead to Scotland gaining Independence, but let’s be absolutely clear that the creation of a devolved Scottish Parliament has only accelerated the urges of Scottish nationalism.

I heard a representative of the SNP interviewed today and I fully agreed with his analysis of Gordon Brown’s pious claims. Brown is only trying to look after his own ambitions. The fact is that Gordon Brown may be remembered not just as the most financially rapacious and irresponsible Chancellors of the Exchequer, but also as one of those who presided over the destruction of the United Kingdom. His attempt to reframe himself as "the defender of the Union" is absolutely ludicrous. When it comes to NuLabour, always judge them by their deeds, not their hollow words.

‘I’m in with the in-crowd.  I go where the in-crowd goes’ sang Dobie Gray.  Yesterday, the ‘peace processor’ transformation of all the major parties in Northern Ireland was complete as the leaders of the SDLP, the UUP, the IRA and the DUP all gathered on the Newtownards Road for the East Belfast Meatheads Reunion, passing itself off as Davy Dictionary’s farewell.  Did you see the images of some of Davy’s colleagues?  They were like walking bags of cholesterol.  It was as if 200 Mongos from Blazing Saddles had suddenly materialised in the Harland and Wolff hinterland.

My friend Bob McCartney was not present.  I know Bob is on holiday at the moment and isn’t due back until the end of the month.  However, had he been so inclined, I’m sure he could have returned briefly to ‘pay his respects’  before resuming his vacation.  The difference is, of course, that Bob is a principled politician whose disgust and contempt at the pervasive beatification of terrorists and the swooning of a supine media is well-known.  For Bob, remaining true to his principles outside the inner sanctum of ‘peace processing’ is a far more comfortable position to maintain.

What was Davy Dictionary?  A terrorist with an overgrown moustache; a political career of failure behind him; a jailbird mouth with more than a hint of thesaurus thrown in; a man who maintained his membership of an illegal terrorist organisation with the blessing of third-rate ministers.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Why the likes of Peter Robinson and Reg Empey had to attend is baffling.  There are no votes in Unionism for cuddling-up to terrorists – corpulent or otherwise!  There were ‘hundreds’ of mourners on the Newtownards Road.  When Bobby Sands failed on the Slimfast plan, 100,000 turned up to see his Karen Carpenter-shaped corpse planted six feet under.  That’s the difference between Unionists and nationalists: the former don’t do criminal lionisation en masse.

I can only guess that Robinson was present to display his credentials as a converted ‘peace process’ operative.  The same process that allows the lowest of the foreign low such as Albert Reynolds to strut along the Newtownards Road with impunity.  That’s something the gurus at Strandtown Hall should think about.

‘Don’t forget, my fine fellow, that the stockholder of yesteryear is the stowaway of today.’

1874 – A British army doctor reaches the British sentry post at Jalalabad, Afghanistan, the only survivor of a 16,000-strong Anglo-Indian expeditionary force that was massacred during its retreat from Kabul.

1916 – In an attempt to relieve their compatriots under heavy siege by Turkish forces at Kut-al Amara in Mesopotamia, British forces under the command of Lieutenant General Fenton Aylmer launch an attack against Turkish defensive positions on the banks of the Wadi River.

1941 – One of the Republic of Ireland’s greatest authors, James Joyce, dies on January 13, 1941. A commemorative museum was established for him in Dublin, where his first work, ‘Dubliners’, was composed in - according to Joyce – a ‘style of scrupulous meanness’.

1958 – In Scotland, the serial killer Peter Manuel is arrested after a series of attacks over a two year period that left nine people dead.

1991 – As protesters continue to fight for Lithuanian independence, 13 people are killed and more than 140 injured by the Soviet military.

1993 – American, British and French planes bomb a series of targets over southern Iraq.  The action is taken in response to repeated Iraqi breaches of the ‘no-fly zone’ implemented after the end of the Gulf War two years earlier.